South Carolina used one of its best days of the season offensively and some dominant pitching in the middle innings to beat Georgia 13-7 and snap a seven-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.
The 13 runs signified the most runs scored against an SEC team since May 2018, the most runs scored on the road in the SEC since April 2018 and gave the Gamecocks their largest SEC road win since ending the 2018 regular season with a 10-1 over Texas A&M.
After a losing Friday the Gamecocks (18-7, 5-3 SEC) now have a shot at their first road series win since taking two of three from the Aggies during that 2018 season.
“You can’t question the heart of this team,” Mark Kingston said. “We said it last night after the loss that we’d come back ready to go today and the team did that.”
After seeing a seven-run lead shrink to two after a five-run seventh inning for Georgia, the Gamecocks responded and did it in a big way.
They’d plate five of the final six runs of the game, getting three in the eighth off RBI hits from Brennan Milone and Brady Allen before Wes Clarke hit his team-best 15th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the ninth.
South Carolina offensive scored 13 runs, the most it has in SEC play this season, and did it on 13 hits.
“A lot of guys gave great at-bats up and down the lineup,” Kingston said. “We got bunts down, we got big RBIs, we battled with two strikes and we hit a lot of homers. It was just a complete offensive effort.”
After Georgia jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the second, the Gamecocks immediately took control and stayed in the driver’s seat for the majority of the game.
George Callil broke up a perfect game in the third with a two-run homer to right, his second home run in his last three games and his first to the opposite field.
“That might be my first,” Callil said. “I was happy to get a good swing off and see that ball leave the yard and give us that early lead.”
After Callil’s shot, the Gamecocks saw their lead balloon to 7-1 over the next four innings with Andrew Eyster and Josiah Sightler both homering and Brennan Milone singling home a run before coming around for a little league home run on sloppy Georgia defense.
“That was a big hit for us. Not just cause it was as homer but we were struggling a little bit and that guy had really good command and came into the game with a 1.50 ERA. You knew it was going to be tough,” Kingston said of Callil’s hit. “George getting that big hit helped everybody relax a little bit and he’s been playing great baseball.”
Milone, who scuffled to start the year, finished 2-for-3 on the day and either scored or drove in five of the Gamecocks’ 13 runs.
The bottom third of the Gamecock order—Milone, Colin Burgess and Callil—combined to go 5-for-10 with five runs scored and four driven in with two doubles and a home run.
Starter Brannon Jordan hit some trouble early and then late in his outing but was fantastic in the middle. He’d give up a solo homer in the second before settling down and retiring 13 straight as he motored through four scoreless innings.
Jordan (3-2, 3.53 ERA) hit some trouble in the seventh, walking two and hitting a batter to load the bases before walking in a run to end his outing.
The Gamecocks brought in Brett Kerry as Georgia got three more in the inning off a fielding error and a two RBI singles.
Jordan finished just shy of tying his career high for innings pitched, going 6.2 innings with one hit, five runs (four earned) and three walks. His 11 strikeouts tied a career high set this year against Mercer and were the most he’s thrown against a SEC team.
“I thought Brannon gave us a great start. He lost it a little there at the end but he was outstanding today,” Kingston said. “He was in the zone, a lot of strikeouts, hard to hit and really set the tone for us.”
